Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

If you received COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments in the last half of 2022, the time has come to document why you should get to keep them.

The HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) opened the PRF Reporting Portal on Jan. 1 and will close it again on March 31 for Reporting Period 6 (RP 6), the agency says in a message to recipients. “Providers who received one or more PRF (General or Targeted) and/or American Rescue Plan Rural payments exceeding $10,000, in the aggregate, from July 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, must report on their use of funds during Reporting Period 6 to comply with PRF Reporting Requirements,” HRSA reminds.

Eligible expenses for RP 6 could have occurred any time from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2023, HRSA points out in a notice of PRF reporting requirements updated last April at www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/provider-relief/prf-arp-rural-post-payment-notice-reporting-requirements.pdf.

“PRF and ARP Rural recipients that do not report or return funds within the respective reporting time period are out of compliance with payment Terms and Conditions and will be subject to repayment,” HRSA warns.

Currently, three more reporting periods still lie ahead, with RP 9’s reporting period ending in September 2025. Reporting resources are at www.hrsa.gov/provider-relief/reporting-auditing.